Railway-brake hanger



l. M. SUMMERS.

RAILWAY BRAKE HANGER. APPLICATION HLED FEB/24, 1920.

1 $585,850. Patented July 26, 1921.

J. MILLS SUMMERS, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY-BRAKE nANeER.

7 To all whom it may concem':

Be it known that I, J. MILLs SUMMERS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county of Alleghenyand State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- Brake Hangers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,'and exact description of'the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved railway brake hanger designed primarily to prevent 'the excessive breakage incident to the forms of hangers now in use.

An object of the invention is to produce a hen er provided with an enlarged and novel lorm ofbralte head support, whereby all tendencies of the brake head to chatter and pound are. reduced to a minimum.

Another object oat-the present invention is the production of a hanger wherein the arm upon which the brake head'is mounted, includes a relatively large and elongated cross sectional area designed to practically fill the opening in the brake head, and forged with a greater bodily thiclmess than the side arms or? the hanger.

Another object of the invention is taproduce a. hanger in which the side arms are relativelythickened near their lower ends so as to extend or merge into an enlarged transverse supporting arm and term a substantial and properly proportioned support for the brake head, said support am being capable of withstanding the 'weakening abrasive and crystallizing tendencies oi. the metal at and about this point caused loy the SEVGI; strain to which the hanger is subecte s 1 J A further object of the invention is the production of a brake hanger capalole of being utilized with any approved type oi standard brake shoe head, wherein advantages of assembly, relatively. low costof production, simplicity in manufacture, and general etliciency are essential prerequisites.

With these and other objects in view, the invention further consists in the novel form of construction" and association of the several parts hereinafter describedand pointed out in the appended claims.

in the accompanying drawings formino" a part of this application and wherein similar I Specification of letters Patent.

Patented July 26", 1921.

Application file d reb'mar 24, 1920. Serial No. 360,590.

reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the several views F lgure 1 is a side elevation of my ini- Iproglred hanger as applied to'a brake shoe Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View through the hanger illustrating the manner in which the respective parts are assembled; 7

Fig. 3 is a View in elevation of my improved hanger, detached;

Fig. 4: is a vertical transverse sectional vieiw through the hanger shown in Fig. 3; an

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail sectional view showing the manner in which the enlarged cross sectional area of the transverse connecting arm is fitted into the opening in the brake head.

In practice at the present time great annoyance 18 experienced through the ineffective manner in which the brake shoe head is movably supported upon the hanger. For example it is customary to looselyvsupport the brake head upon a hanger formed with side arms and a connecting transverse supporting arm,'all of the aforesaid arms being of uniform cross sectional area.

In some instances of which E am aware certain attempts have heen made to vary the relative cross sectional areas of the side arms and connecting support, but in each.

case the result has been to reduce the cross sectional area of the metal constituting the transverse "supporting arm for purposes of.

assembly, thereby weakening the hanger and particularly the'corner bends thereof.

it has been found in practice that's. large percentage of the failures occur at the corners oi the ll-hangers and along the transverse supporting or connecting arm.

It is to overcome these and similar tailures that l have designed the novel form of railway brake hanger represented in the drawings by the numeral 1.

The hanger 1 comprises relatively spaced side arms 2 formed at their upper ends with the enlarged eyes 3 through which suitable fastening devices pass for securing the hanger to the car or truck side frame, as will be understood.

The relative cross sectional area oi the metal comprising the side arms 2 is preferably predetermined to the extent that it'is of a size commensurate with the standard size of'hangler now used, and it is upon this basis that predicate the increase of the succeeding cross sectional areas forming the bent corners and connecting arm now to be described.

Beginning at a point indicated by the numeral 4 near the lower ends of the side arms 2, the cross sectional area of the hanger is substantially increased and merged into the connecting arm 5 forming the support upon which the brake head is actually mounted. I r i g This increased cross sectional area is continuous and is shown as of elliptical formation extending Well up into the side arms to the points indicated by the numeral 4. 'The elliptical form of the increased cross sec tional area of the hanger forms what may be termed an elongated area with a relatively long vertical or major axis a, and a proportionally narrow or minor axis b, the said narrow axis 6 being preferably of a width commensurate With that of the diameter of the material constituting the side arms.

The corners 6 of the hanger are formed by bending this elongated cross sectional area as shown so as to maintain a maximum amount of metal at these points, and con tinuing the same well up into the side arms.

The brake head 7.is shown as of'a conventional standard type, suitably mounted upon the brake beam 8, and provided with the usual brake shoe 9 and retaining key 10.

Formed in the brake head is an openlng 11 designed to receive, the connecting or transverse supporting arm 5 of the brake hanger. This opening 11 is of elliptical contour and is provided at one side with an intersecting slot 12, the said slot being of a width e ual to that of the minor or narrow axis 6 oi the elliptical cross sectional area of the arm 5, and designed to permit of the entry of'the han er into the brake head when inserted as s own in Fig. 2.

The opening 11 is within t e brake head and is of a size sufficient to receive the in-' creased and elliptical cross sectional area of the arm 5 of the hanger, in such a manner as to practically fill the said opening when the hanger is turned to its normal supporting position as shown in Fig. 1.

The brake head is freely movable upon the arm 5, so as to properly function,.see

Fig. 5, but it is not desirable to so loosely mount the brake head as to cause it to chatter and pound as is ordinarily the case.

The curved or substantially elliptical form of the bearing produced by the association of the hanger and brake head is highly advantageous in effecting a free and easy movement of the brake head and at the same time, prevents all tendencies of the brake head to pound.

the elliptical cross sectional area of the arm 5 to practically fill the opening 11 as heretofore described. \Vhen in this position (see Fig.1) the brake headis securely locked upon the hanger and it cannot be removed unless it is again turned to the horizontal position and drawn through the slot 12 intersecting the'opening 11 of the brake head.-

In practice numerous advantages are derived from this construction in that the brake head cannot'become dislodged should the brake shoe be lost, or the key become detached. Other advantages follow from the use of my improved hanger in that it is interchangeable with standard types of brake shoe'heads and can be readily applied without removing the brake head.

While I have shown and particularly described my invention as adapted for use withthe U-type of hanger, it will be understood that it is equally applicable to the link and similar forms of railway hangers which may be used. 7

Various changes commensurate with the scope of the invention herein set forth may be resorted to in actual practice, and I do not limit myself to the exact form of construction shown and described.

I claim v 1. A railway brake hanger comprising spaced side arms of a predetermined cross sectional area, and a transverse arm formed integral with and connecting said side arms, said transverse arm being formed of a substantially enlarged cross sectional area forming the entire bends of the hanger and extending at substantially said enlarged cross sectional area into the aforesaid side arms.

2. A railway brakle hanger comprising spaced side arms of a predetermined cross sectional area, and a transverse connecting arm formed integral with and connecting said side arms, said transverse arm. being formed of an increased elliptical cross sectional area forming the bends of the hanger and extendin into the aforesaid side arms.

3. The com inationof a brake head having an opening therein and a slot intersectin said opening, and a hanger includin sic e arms of a predetermined cross sectiona arm of an area and a transverse connecting ormlng the increased cross sectional area bends of the hanger and extending at subaforesaid slot and turned so as to substantially fill the aforesaid opening in the brake I hea 4;. The combination of a brake head having an opening therein and a slot intersectin said opening, and a hanger includin si e arms of a predetermined cross sectiona area and atransverse connecting arm of an increased vertical cross sectional area forming the bends of the hanger and extending at substantially said increased cross sectional area into the side arms, said connecting arm being arranged to be inserted horizontally through the aforesaid slot and turned so as to bring the said increased cross sectional area in a vertical position for substantially filling the aforesaid opening in the brake head.

5. The combination with a brake head having a relatively large elliptical opening therein and a relatively smaller openlng intersecting said larger opening and a hanger includ- 111g side arms of a predetermined cross sectional area equal in size to the aforesaid small opening, and a transverse arm of an elliptical increased cross sectional area subin a relativel elliptical opening therein and a relatively smaller opening intersecting said larger openlng, and a hanger including side arms of a predetermined cross sectional area, and an integral connecting arm of an increased elliptical cross sectional area, said connecting arm being arranged to enter the said relatively small openlng with its major axis disposed horizontally and subsequently turned until it reaches the vertical and substantially fills the aforesaid vertically disposed elli tical opening in the brake head.

n testimon whereof I affix my signature in presence 0 two subscribin witnesses. J. MILLS MMERS. Witnesses:

A. E. ELLIOTT, E. L. PETERSON.

equal in size to the aforesaid y large vertically disposed 

